This is the eighth Chairman’s report I have written and it is, of course, the last I shall write because, as I mentioned in last year’s report, I shall be resigning as Chairman at the AGM. As you will see from the notice for the AGM, the board are unanimously recommending that Richard Barber should be elected Chairman and I very much hope he will have the support of all members.

I should like to add that I am delighted that Richard has been nominated as my successor. Not only does he come from a family, which has probably done more for Fives than any other, but his highly successful career in British Steel, where he was Commercial Director when he retired, means that he has a wealth of experience, which will be increasingly important as the EFA gets involved in new initiatives. Already, our involvement at Westway is bringing us into new areas. I can think of no one more qualified to lead the EFA than Richard.

On a personal note, I shall be sad to retire as Chairman as I have enjoyed my eight years in the Chair, but it is quite clear to me that this is the right moment for me to go, firstly I am now 75 and secondly in my opinion eight years is quite longer enough for anyone to lead an organisation. The time comes when it is important to get a new perspective on the role of the Association.

It is not for me to judge how successful or not my term as Chairman has been, but I hope I leave the Association in good health and certainly the Westway project has taken us into exciting new territory.

Westway
The Westway courts opened last autumn. The EFA and the Charitable Trust funded Mark Herring as the Fives coach in residence. The use of the courts got off a fairly slow start, though they did begin to get used for League matches and thanks to Ronald Pattison’s efforts quite a thriving Monday evening club got established, but developing a game such as Fives from scratch was never going to be an easy task. By the end of March, it was quite clear both to Westway’s management and the EFA that we needed to take a more radical look at how to promote Fives at Westway.

Richard Barber, Anthony Wagg, Howard Wiseman and I had a very productive meeting at Westway with Roger Matland, their chief executive. At this meeting, Roger decided that if Fives was really to get off the ground at Westway, he needed to take Howard onto their staff. The outcome of this is that Howard joined Westway at the end of May and will be full-time there until the end of the year; after that he will be there on a half-time basis until the spring.

While Westway have assumed the responsibility for the employment of Howard, the EFA and Charitable felt strongly that they wished to support Westway by making a financial contribution towards the cost of employing Howard by matching the cost to us of Mark Herring this year. I am nervous about being too optimistic about what I say about Westway, because of the setbacks we have had in the last two years, but the early reports, as I write at the beginning of July, are very favourable and Howard’s presence is immediately being felt. I need hardly add that he is full of plans for developing the game there; activity is already picking up and the forecasts for use of the courts in September are very encouraging. I feel that we are now on the way to establishing Westway as an important centre for Fives.

Great credit is due to Roger Matland for his decision to take Howard onto Westway’s staff and to assume the responsibility for funding him. I would like to take this opportunity to thank both the EFA board directors and the Trustees for their immediate support in agreeing that we should contribute to the funding of Howard. It all had to be done somewhat quickly. In particular, I am extremely grateful to Richard Barber and Anthony Wagg for the unstinted support they gave me throughout these negotiations.

Now that Westway is up and running, it is an appropriate moment to say thanks to some of those people, who made it possible. The original idea about Westway was given to me by a local Kensington & Chelsea councillor, Paul Warwick, who had been at school at Stowe; the selling of the idea to Westway was done in the first instance by Jim Cogan of Westminster School and I am very doubtful if anyone could have been as convincing as Jim, to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude; our cause was also helped by Mary Glenn-Haig, of the British Fencing Association and a former British member of the Olympic committee. Lastly, I would like to thank the Charitable Trust, firstly under the Chairmanship of Philip Curtis and latterly of Rodney Knight, for the support they have shown to Westway; we have had problems during the last two years, but they did not allow these to deflect their support. I am very grateful to them and the EFA board for this continuing support. This is an appropriate moment to thank the Charitable Trust for all it has done for Eton Fives. Without its existence, we could have undertaken few of the commitments we have entered into in the last few years.

Courts
Eton built its 16th court during the year and there was a small opening ceremony on the court on 10th May. Mark Williams has dedicated the court to Martin Shortland-Jones and David Guilford, who had done so much for Eton’s Fives. Both Anne Shortland-Jones and David were present at the opening. I am delighted to say that the EFA/Charitable Trust made a contribution of £1,000 towards the cost of the court. The EFA is very appreciative of Eton’s decision to build this court when they already had fifteen courts; certainly, there are a number of competitions and tournaments, which are held at Eton, when the 16th court will be of considerable value.

There is considerable court activity at a number of other venues. Lancing have just spent a considerable amount of money (they have also been supported by a grant from the Trustees) on refurbishing their courts and I am told that the interest in the game is on the increase there. Stowe are still considering whether they are going to re-site their courts. Uppingham have got one of their school courts back into action, together with two of their house courts. At Oakham, Fives is definitely on the increase. Two other schools are also discussing moving and rebuilding their courts.

I don’t think there is much further news on the Cambridge courts. The current position appears to be that Cambridge is in the process of trying to raise about £30 million to pay for the new sports centre. Until most of the money is in place, I doubt if we shall hear of much progress.

This brings me to the question of building courts. For reasons, which are still not entirely clear to me it seems that building Fives courts appears to be a far more difficult operation than it was, say, 60 or 70 years ago. Probably there are far few skilled plasters around and the importance of allowing sufficient time for drying between each stage is not appreciated. In the end, the Westway courts were re-rendered by Squash & Leisure Services, a firm, which specialises in Real Tennis, racquets and squash courts. They had been recommended to us by John Pretlove, the former Kent cricketer, who had been responsible for the re-facing of the Rugby Fives courts at Alleyn’s School. It is strongly my feeling that if we wish good courts to built in the future, we should recommend that the rendering for the courts is done by Squash & Leisure Services.

Competitions & Tournaments
The Kinnaird was won for the second year running by the strong pairing of Robin Mason and Tom Dunbar. In a closely fought final they beat James Toop and Matthew Wiseman. Robin and Tom had, of course, appeared in mid-January on the TV show ‘They Think It’s All Over’. In what could so easily have been rather an embarrassing episode, they acquitted themselves with considerable style and are to be congratulated on having had the ‘bottle’ to do it.

The League was won by the Old Olavians. It is good to report that teams in the first division are turning out fuller sides. Old Etonians 2 narrowly won Division 2 from St Olave’s School while the Old Carthusians, re-invigorated by Ronald Pattison, came third and I think are entering a second team this year into Division 3. Everyone will be pleased to see that Windsor & Eton won Division 3; I think for the first time. It was good, too, to see the Reptonian/Stoics coming in as runners up.

The Alan Barber Cup was won by the Old Salopians; the Walters brothers pulling off narrow five game wins in both the semi-finals and final. As this is my last report, I should like to say a few words about the Old Salopians. I can think of no other club, which has kept up such a consistently high standard since the end of the War.

The enterprising Oxford University side, which contained two Kinnaird champions in Tom Dunbar and James Toop, decided it was time that more was made of the ‘Varsity match. Tom Dunbar persuaded Pol Roger, who already sponsor the ‘Varsity Real Tennis match, to do the same for the Fives match. I was fortunate to be asked as a guest to attend an excellent after-match reception at Eton at which the Pol Roger flowed, this was followed by dinner at which about forty of us sat down, twenty of the Oxford and Cambridge players plus many of their supporters. Many congratulations to James and Tom for turning this match into a ‘real occasion’ and for their initiative in getting sponsorship, which I understand is going to continue.

The Aberconway Cup for Fathers & Sons was won by the Tony and Jake Walters. Sadly, Charles Aberconway, whose idea this competition was and who donated the cup, died earlier in the year.

The HSBC Schools Championships were played at Eton. The Open Championship was won by Eton (Eddie & Charlie Nissen) for only the second time since 1967. For those, who are interested in the co-incidences in records, I think I am right in saying that this Championship had never been won by a pair of brothers until Tom and Peter Dunbar won in 2000 at Eton and now just three years later the feat is repeated by the Nissen brothers again at Eton.

This was the 20th anniversary of the Holmwoods/HSBC sponsorship of these Championships. HSBC hosted an excellent dinner in College Hall at Eton for the masters-in-charge of Fives and the directors of the EFA. This was a splendid occasion, which was also attended by a considerable number of Headmasters and former Headmasters, and was a very fitting way for the twenty years of sponsorship to be celebrated. At the dinner, on behalf of the EFA, I presented an engraved glass bowl to David Godfray of HSBC to mark our appreciation of how much he has done to make this sponsorship work.

Subscriptions
Having discussed the matter for over a year, the board has decided to recommend that the members’ subscription should be increased to £20 per annum from £15; there will be no increase for Clubs and Schools; the one one-off payment for Students will be £20.

This will be only the second increase in the last fifteen years. You will see it is an item to be raised at the AGM and, although I am only too well aware that increased subscriptions are never welcome, I do ask you to give it your support. We have accomplished a great deal since the last increase seven years ago; we have become increasingly involved in coaching, we have produced the much- improved Annual Report and have supported Westway.

Other Matters
The second EFA Dinner was held at Eton on 10th May. This was as successful an occasion as last year’s and has now become a firm fixture in our calendar. We were delighted to have Anne Shortland-Jones and David Guilford as our guests. It was good, too, to see Jimmy Biggs there to witness the success of his club, the Old Olavians, receiving the trophies they had won.

As I mentioned in the February Newsletter, the board have been discussing the viability of the Newsletter. It’s production and postage costs are quite considerable. But it is quite clear that a number of our older members find it of interest. No final decision has been taken, but what I think is likely to happen is that there will be a somewhat shorter Chairman’s letter, which will be sent to all those, who are not on the net. Most of those, who are playing regularly, rely to an increasing on our website, which is so effectively masterminded by Mike Fenn, to get their information.

During the year, a number of the directors have been working on policies for equal opportunities, risk assessment and child protection; we now have policies in place in these increasingly controversial areas. Is this really necessary you might well ask? The answer is ‘Yes’, partly because some of these policies overlap with our work at Westway and secondly because Sport England will not consider us for a grant unless we comply with these policies.

Our relationship with the Rugby Fives Association continues to flourish. Both Associations feel that our twice-yearly Fives Forum meetings are worthwhile. This year, the EFA got considerable help from the RFA over the rendering of Fives courts; while the RFA decided to follow our example and incorporate themselves, making considerable use of what we had already done.

I feel I should say a few words about the report, which James Toop produced last year. This report looked at the positioning of Fives in the context of sport generally and also at various ways in which funding might be obtained. The report has been discussed quite extensively by both the EFA and the RFA. My view is that we need to wait until are sure that we have got Westway up and running before implementing it; otherwise we shall be wasting our meagre resources running after new initiatives before we are ready.

The Board
As this is my last opportunity to do so, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the directors for the help they have given me over the last eight years. Without their efforts, we could have accomplished none of what has been done. It is all always a little invidious to pull out certain names, but four in particular do deserve special thanks. All of you will be aware of the indefatigable efforts made by Mike Fenn as Secretary on behalf of the EFA; Mark Williams, both because of the way he runs the Schools Championships and his Chairmanship of the Competitions-sub-committee, has been an invaluable member of the board; Martin Powell, who for many years was Secretary of the EFA and has been Treasurer ever since I became Chairman, has kept a firm grip on our finances; and Anthony Wagg, whose support and help to me over Westway has been invaluable to me. There have been moments, when I might have wobbled, but Anthony’s always knew that we would get there in the end.

My thanks, of course, to all other directors. As I continually say they are all prepared to put a considerable amount of their time and effort into supporting our game for no tangible reward.

Derek Whitehead has decided that, after twenty years advising the committee and board, the time has come to take rather more of a back seat. The board have decided that they would like to thank Derek for all he has done for the EFA by appointing him a Vice-President. You will see this is a Resolution for the AGM. No one deserves this more. Having worked with Derek for eight years, I should like to pay tribute to the service he has given the EFA: his advice and counsel have been much appreciated; and in particular, his knowledge of company law and procedures were very valuable to me, when we were incorporating ourselves.

Anthony Wagg is moving away from London and feels he will be too far away to attend board meetings regularly and to help us in the ways he has done in the last few years. I am particularly grateful to him for all the work he has done for us at Westway. His contribution will be missed by all of us on the board. Jamie Fleming and Chris Cooley resigned form the board during the year, because they found they were unable to attend board meetings. The board are proposing to elect back Mark Williams who, although not a board member this year, has been co-opted to attend our meetings; we are also proposing electing Ken Hughes, who came off the board last year; James Toop, whose report last year on the possible future funding of the game, impressed everyone who read it; and Ronald Pattison, who has being putting a considerable effort into getting evening Fives moving at Westway as well as reviving the Old Carthusians. This will bring the board up to full strength.

Lastly, I should draw to your attention that the board are proposing that I should be a Vice-President.

Chairman's Report 2002-2003 by Michael Constantinidi
Finalised 12th September 2003
efa@etonfives.co.uk

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